Shipping up to Boston

Why it's taken me a week to write about the Celtics winning a championship

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A week ago, I stood amid a crush of fellow media members underneath the bleachers of TD Garden. We were cordoned off from the entrance to the court by those webbed nylon straps that corral you into lines at museums and airports. A clock with red, digital numbers hung on the cinderblock wall and ticked down to the end of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. League personnel scurried back and forth from the court to the tunnel, frantic on their phones. Celtics great Ray Allen and his son strolled by, surrounded by security. 

It was clear that the Boston Celtics were about to beat the Dallas Mavericks to win the team’s first championship in sixteen years. Sixteen years is, by Boston standards, practically a centuries-long drought. 

Experiencing a championship win in the tunnel of a stadium is like being in a cool, slightly damp, cement cave while an earthquake occurs above you. Only people players approve, team personnel, and select folks who work for ESPN are allowed to go onto the court while the ABC broadcast is still occurring. The rest of us had to wait, and I tried not to tear up as time ran out and the crowd above me erupted. I could see white and green confetti rain down through the tunnel’s entrance like watching a blizzard out of a window. 

In my first full season of hosting a daily (except Monday) NBA show, the team I root for had been kind enough to win a championship. 

Prior to this year, I was a generalist in the sports media world. I still am — I talk and write about other leagues and even topics outside of sports completely. Since I started working in this field, my job has mostly entailed parachuting into different sports to write profiles of athletes and coaches, or to take the pulse of a particularly big moment. Doing this NBA show and immersing myself in the daily grind of the league has been like getting a Masters of Basketball, and I’ve been humbled by how the basketball world has welcomed me into its fold as I found my way in it.  

It’s taken me a while to write this because I haven’t quite known how to explain the swirl of emotions connected to this win, both personally and professionally. Thank you for your patience as I covered the playoffs this year and wrote here less frequently — it was a bit of a whirlwind. But I think I’ve finally been able to put it all into words.